Planning on appealing to the Mississippi Supreme
Court, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer will be
taking the next step after Circuit Judge Andrew
Howorthrefused to throw out the defamation award in favor
of former employee Lamon Griggs, who had been accused of
shoplifting tobacco, according to a report by the
Associated Press.

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, had
two options in its recent court actions.
The other options was for the company to request
Howorth to reduce the award, a path the retailer chose not
to take because “He [Griggs] didn’t deserve one penny,”
Wal-Mart attorney Bill Luckett told the Associated
Press.

The retailer chose to argue the verdict was
“excessive and shocks the conscience,” in seeking to have
the case thrown out.

Case Background

Griggs charged Wal-Mart with defamation, asserting
that store personnel had falsely accused him of theft and
spread those allegations.After he was fired by Wal-Mart, Griggs was unable to
find another trucking job and is now working part time with
the Chickasaw County sheriff’s department in Mississippi,
according to the report. He had been making $70,000 a
year at Wal-Mart (See
Shoplifting Charge Nets Wal-Mart Worker
$8.5 Million
).

The imbroglio began in 1997 when Griggs, working as a
truck driver for Wal-Mart in Hammond, Louisiana, having
made his delivery, picked up some chewing tobacco to
purchase. He then remembered that he had to check in
with his supervisor. Still carrying the package, as
he left the store looking for a phone, he informed the
“greeter” at the door that he had the tobacco but had to
step out. However, before he could reenter the store,
Griggs claimed the store’s “loss prevention” staff stopped
him.

Griggs gave a written statement to his supervisor
that he had never intended to take the tobacco.
Still, Griggs was fired in accordance with Wal-Mart’s
policy on dismissing employees caught taking merchandise
from the store.

After hearing arguments at the initial trial, the
jury awarded Griggs $1.5 million in actual damages and $7
million in punitive damages. Prior to trial, the defense
had offered $30,000 to settle.